This morning I had a mom ask me, “Any advice for getting a baby to sleep through the night?” I wrote her back and then decided to share my response with you.

The best thing I ever did to get my babies to sleep well was to have them sleep with me. For me it meant I didn’t get up to check their breathing, or get woken up from a sound sleep to the sounds of a fully awake and screaming baby. (or in my case, I could never really sleep because I knew that at any time the baby would wake up and cry) I could just sleep and feed them and even change their diapers without ever getting out of bed. It made nights pretty easy. I know it’s not for everybody, but it worked well for us.

Other than that, I think it depends on why you think they are not sleeping all night. If it’s because they are hungry them there isn’t much you can do about that except for maybe once they eat cereal or baby food you could try doing a bigger meal right before bedtime. (but you may be awakened in the night for the poopy diaper that is sure to follow)

If it’s because they get startled by being alone or from when they flip over unexpectedly (know how they do that and scare themselves?!) maybe something like a

Zaky Pillow

or two could help them feel more cozy.

Some people find that by putting their baby on a feeding schedule that they sleep through the night sooner. I am not a person oriented toward schedules so that idea never appealed to me, but I have friends that have done so and it worked well for them. I would caution new parents to be aware that a baby’s digestive system processes food very quickly, so they need to be fed approximately every 2-4 hours around the clock for quite some time. It is not safe, healthy, or ideal for a very young baby to sleep through the night without feeding, no matter how helpful it is to you to get more sleep.

The good thing is that it does not last forever. Hang in there!